SAT (College Admission Test)

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 28, 2015

George Washington University will no longer require most applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores to be considered for undergraduate admission; requirement will only apply to applicants who are home-schooled, those who come from high schools that provide only narrative evaluations, college athletes and students applying to seven-year program for aspiring physicians. MORE

Jun. 16, 2015

College Board announces that it will not score two sections of SAT that was administered nationally on June 6, and will waive fees for students who want to retake it; test booklets contained misprint about time allotted for a reading section of the exam. MORE

May. 5, 2015

Op-Ed article by University of California president emeritus Richard C Atkinson and education researcher Saul Geiser welcomes changes to College Board's SAT but says test is still problematic; observes greatest drawback is that test will still rank students, comparing their scores to other test takers, rather than measuring how much knowledge they actually have on given subjects. MORE

Feb. 8, 2015

Elementary and middle schools in Malverne, NY, school district have begun initiative to expand students' SAT vocabulary. MORE

Oct. 30, 2014

Educational Testing Service, company that administers SAT tests around world, says it is withholding scores for thousands of Chinese and South Korean students following cheating allegations; announcement comes just days before early application deadlines for most American colleges and universities. MORE

Jun. 19, 2014

Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass, announces that it will no longer consider SAT or ACT scores in admissions or financial aid decisions. MORE

Apr. 16, 2014

College Board will release many details of its revised SAT, to be introduced in the spring of 2016, including sample questions and explanations of the research, goals and specifications behind them; one big change is in vocabulary questions, which will no longer include obscure words. MORE

Mar. 30, 2014

News analysis; discrepancy has arisen between way colleges and prospective employers treat the SAT test, with colleges relying on it less and employers continuing to ask job applicants for their scores; employers generally use SAT test scores as easy way to weed out candidates, while colleges find these scores do not predict academic performance as well as other measures. MORE

Mar. 11, 2014

Op-Ed article by Prof John D Mayer defends the SAT against pushback from colleges and public opinion; says despite its limitations it provides valuable insight about a student's mind and capacities; contends such tests should be expanded to include wider measures, including creativity and emotional intelligence. MORE

Mar. 9, 2014

Todd Balf article describes how College Board, led by its president David Coleman, decided to revamp the SAT test, which was almost universally disliked; notes board had to address issues like whether test was designed in a way that made it easier for wealthier students; says it also had to address growing number of universities that did not require it as part of the application process. MORE

Mar. 7, 2014

News analysis; people who first designed the SAT in 1920s wanted to identify a new elite based on brains rather than heredity, not necessarily to expand access to college; latest College Board overhaul makes it more like its competitor, the ACT, in redefining merit as less about cleverness, and more about curriculum mastery. MORE

Mar. 7, 2014

Jennifer Finney Boylan Op-Ed article cites news that College Board is rolling out complete do-over of the SAT test; describes her own stressful experience taking the SAT; argues exam will still be inaccurate measurement of student potential, even with its changes, and should be done away with once and for all. MORE

Mar. 6, 2014

College Board announces fundamental rethinking of the SAT, ending the longstanding penalty for guessing wrong, cutting obscure vocabulary words and making the essay optional; cites desire to bring test more in line with the reality of high school curriculums; also announces programs to help low-income students, who will be eligible to receive free college application waivers and online practice. MORE

Sep. 30, 2013

Letter from Catharine B Hill, president, Vassar College, comments on Sept 26 article about the College Board's nationwide outreach program aimed at low-income high school seniors. MORE

Sep. 26, 2013

College Board, group that administers the SAT, has begun a nationwide outreach program to try to persuade more low-income high school seniors who scored high on standardized tests to apply to select colleges. MORE

Aug. 25, 2013

Essay by Joshua Henkin describes how studying for the SAT inspired in him a love of language, which eventually led to him becoming a writier. MORE

Aug. 4, 2013

Ambitious high school students looking for edge in college admissions are increasingly taking, and re-taking, both SAT and ACT. MORE

Aug. 4, 2013

College Board is overhauling SAT in order to make it better mesh with what students are learning in classrooms and adapting ACT for online format; Board president David Coleman reveals what both tests may look like. MORE

Feb. 3, 2013

Jordan Liss, sophomore at University of Michigan, has created Testing Timers, watches programmed to optimally time ACT and SAT test-taking; test-prep experts suggest more conventional strategies. MORE

Sep. 25, 2012

College Board notices a slight drop in the average score on the critical reading section of the SAT college entrance exam for the graduating high school class of 2012. MORE

Jun. 6, 2012

College Board drops plans to offer an unusual summertime SAT to students enrolled in a preparatory course conducted by the National Society for the Gifted & Talented at the Amherst College campus, just days after announcing the course, due to complaints that only students taking the course were allowed to take it. MORE

May. 31, 2012

SAT exam will be offered outside of the school year for the first time, but only to students enrolled in a $4,500 summer program for gifted students on the Amherst College campus. MORE

May. 19, 2012

Educational Testing Service auditor throws out test scores of 199 students who took SAT exam at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights; says proctors left booklets unattended, failed to check identification and allowed students to choose where they sat. MORE

May. 17, 2012

Nearly 200 students at Packer Collegiate Institute will have their SAT scores invalidated, apparently because some of the seats in the testing room were too close together; decision by the Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT on behalf of the College Board, enrages administrators, parents and students who say they are being punished for a technicality. MORE

Mar. 28, 2012

SAT and ACT college entrance exams will now require students to provide a photograph when they sign up for the tests, and officials will check those images against the identification the students present when they take the test; the new rules are pare of a broad set of changes made in the aftermath of a cheating scandal involving dozens Long Island high school students. MORE

Jan. 31, 2012

Claremont McKenna College, a small prestigious California school, says it has submitted false SAT scores to publications that use the data in widely followed college rankings, generally inflating reading and math scores by an average of 10-20 points each; senior administrator Richard C Vos takes sole responsibility for falsifying the scores, admits he has been doing so since 2005 and resigns his post. MORE

Dec. 2, 2011

One of the most conspicuous cheating scandals in memory, which took place on Long Island's Gold Coast, is telling reflection of the college admissions rat race and contemporary ethics; five students, from prominent families but some in financial distress, face felony charges for taking SAT or ACT tests for others; 15 students, who paid test-takers up to $3,600, face misdemeanor charges. MORE

Nov. 23, 2011

Nassau county prosecutors accuse 13 students from five schools of accepting payment or paying others to take the SAT and ACT between 2008 and 2011; accusations, coming two months after seven other Nassau students were accused of cheating on the tests, seem to underscore inadequacy of security measures implemented by test administrators. MORE

Nov. 21, 2011

Michael Winerip On Education column describes Nathaly Lopera, daughter of Colombian immigrants who took full advantage of number of resources to overcome financial and cultural disadvantages; she particularly benefited from program that gives low-income teenagers help filling out college applications, writing essays, practicing interviews and preparing for the SAT examinations. MORE

Nov. 19, 2011

At least seven Nassau County, LI, students accused of cheating on SAT and ACT college admissions exams are expected to turn themselves in to authorities. MORE

Nov. 10, 2011

Nassau County district attorney’s office is broadening its inquiry into suspected cheating on college admissions exams to at least 35 students in five schools, including students believed to have paid for a stand-in to take the ACT and the SAT. MORE

Oct. 26, 2011

College Board will hire former FBI director Louis J Freeh to review its security procedures in response to the arrest of seven Long Island teenagers accused of cheating on the SAT; group will also begin analyzing more test scores for irregularities and increase training for test-center supervisors. MORE